M.A. Niazi

The terrorists seem to have outdone themselves. There has been a suicide bombing in Islamabad, which has mainly struck at policemen, then at the Indian embassy in Kabul, and then a series of blasts in Karachi, which have taken no lives, but have left the nation’s industrial, financial and trading capital scared. The accusations have flown thick and fast. Afghanistan has lost no time in accusing Pakistan’s ISI of being behind the Kabul blasts, and there has been some talk of the Karachi blasts either being the work of the agencies, the motive being to keep Pervez Musharraf in power, or of Afghan intelligence. The latter view appears to accept the Kabul blast as a piece of ISI work, but does not, for Afghan intelligence may have gone ahead with the Karachi blast even though the Kabul blast was not ISI work. There is nowhere the possibility floated that the Islamabad blasts had an Afghan connection, though it is always logistically easier for Afghan intelligence to strike inside nearby Islamabad than far-off Karachi, even factoring in the necessary assistance from India.